TCB Publications - Abstract

ISGR2005
The nuclear pore complex, through the interaction of its proteins with transport
receptors, controls the transport of large molecules into and out of the cell's
nucleus. Ample evidence exists for an essential role of proteins with FG sequence
repeats in this control. Previous studies have elucidated binding spots for FG
sequence repeats on the surface of the transport receptor importin- by
X-ray crystallography and mutational studies. Molecular dynamics simulations have
been performed to characterize the interaction of FG sequence repeats with the
transport receptor. Observed binding spots have been verified and novel sites
discovered, suggesting that importin- features many more binding spots than
suspected so far. The observed binding spots are in accord with several models of
nucleocytoplasmic transport and the large number of binding spots on
importin- may be necessary for the pore complex to distinguish between
importin- and inert proteins and allow it passage through the pore.